All her life, Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lives with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt’s South Carolina plantation instead–a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

Stuck with the ghosts of a generations-old feud and hunted by forces she cannot see, Barrie must find a way to break free of the family legacy. With the help of sun-kissed Eight Beaufort, who knows what Barrie wants before she knows herself, the last Watson heir starts to unravel her family’s twisted secrets. What she finds is dangerous: a love she never expected, a river that turns to fire at midnight, a gorgeous cousin who isn’t what she seems, and very real enemies who want both Eight and Barrie dead.Continue reading →

by Amy Ewing
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Violet Lasting is a girl who lives in the Marsh, the poorest circle in the Lone City. She is a surrogate sold to the highest royal bidder to bare her child after which she enters the richest circle, the Jewel and has to maneuver her way through politics, love, and friendship.
When I first read this book, I read it in a day and absolutely loved it! I still love this book because like You Are Mine this book deals with the issue of buying and selling women. However, this book also introduces the theme of surrogacy.
Amy Ewing cleverly introduces the topic of buying and selling girls to be used as surrogates. Along with that, she introduces an extra layer by having the girls bought by royal women.
I loved all of the plot twists in the book! I especially enjoyed the cliff-hanger at the end.
However, I felt that the romance between Violet and Ash was just too instantaneous for my liking. I didn’t mind the romance itself, but I thought it was forced at times and it could have been written better. I also thought the romance made Violet less independent in a way which contradicted her character throughout the book.
Overall, The Jewel brought new concepts to the table and I highly recommend it.

by Janeal Falor
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I’d like to thank the author for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Firstly, I read the whole book in a day and I absolutely LOVED it.
Serena is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in a land called Chardonia. In this world, the land is ruled by Warlocks—men with magic in their blood. Women are seen as inferior to them and are little better than “tarnished”—undesirable women who did not please the men and nonmagical men who are treated as slaves.
The book starts out on Serena’s birthday when she has her blood tested for magical potency. Since her blood is very potent, she is sold to a powerful Warlock named Thomas. Like Serena’s father and the rest of the men in this society, Thomas treats Serena harshly, and that’s putting it mildly. Anyway, the book goes on and Serena’s husband dies in a battle against an Envadi barbarian. Serena, along with Thomas’ other possessions are given to the Envadi Warlock. At first, Serena believes that her new husband will be more cruel to her, but as the book goes on, Serena learns to challenge societal rules, overcome childhood trauma, and learn to love others.
To say that I loved this book is putting it mildly. This book was a completely new take on witches and wizards. It also reminded me a little of The Jewel in that it had the premise of buying and selling women. I’m usually skeptical going in to books that discuss slavery, but I think the author handled the issue nicely.
Serena was a great protagonist throughout the book. She didn’t whine or plainly accept her fate and she wasn’t too annoying. However, I did think that she couldn’t get past the fact that her new husband wasn’t a barbarian even after he showed her time and time again that he would not purposely harm her.
Overall, this was a refreshing read and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

by Alexandra Bracken
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Bracken built an incredible world with this book.
I loved how the book took place in the United States. I also liked how seamless the shift from the present to the flashbacks was. I did find keeping track of the various people chasing Ruby and the others somewhat difficult, but it wasn’t distracting enough that I had to stop and go back to find out who was who. I also thought that the identity of the slip kid was very predictable, but maybe that was just me.
Ruby: I really loved her as a character and thought she grew significantly throughout the book. I also liked seeing events from her point of view as a teenager and as a child.
I feel that Liam and the rest of the characters didn’t just compliment Ruby, but they added a whole new level of dimension to the story. Each character was well-developed and experienced significant growth in the story.
I don’t know what took me so long to read this book and I highly recommend this book.
What are your thoughts?
Jackie

My actual rating of this book is 4.5 out of 5 stars.
That said, no book or series for that matter has a perfect ending, however, Cassandra Clare came pretty damn close.
Honestly, this book could have ended the Shadowhunter world and I would have been fine with it. I mean I would have had many questions, but that happens with any book.
This book more than any other in the series or in general, has made me realize that no matter how small, every detail matters. I really loved how Cassandra Clare tied up all of the loose ends in the story. Those she didn’t tie up, I’m sure she left them for a purpose.
Not many books make me cry, but this was one of them. There were just so many action packed moments followed by very philosophical and emotional moments. I mean, was I the only one who cried when Raphael and Sebastian died? Oh, and let’s not even get started on Simon. When he offered himself up so that they could all leave Edom, I started crying. However, I think the most heart-wrenching moment of the whole ordeal was seeing his reaction at not remembering them all and slowly gaining his memories back.
I think the fact that so many people died in this book makes it even more real and relatable to me. I know for a fact that I would have hated the book if it had ended with Jonothan still alive, The Fair Folk getting along with everyone, and all of the couples living happily ever after. I’m so glad that the series ended with so much character development from everyone and the subtle ever-present threat of retaliation in the background. To me, this ending fits perfectly with my image of Cassandra Clare’s writing style.
I can’t wait for Lady Midnight (The Dark Artifices #1)to come out!
What are your thoughts?

by Laini Taylor
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
I found some of the shifts in point of view, especially at the beginning, quite confusing. Apart from that, I really didn’t have too many other problems with it. However, I did have a hard time deciphering whether Akiva, Karou, and later Madrigal was telling the story.
Characters:

Karou:
I thought she was an okay character and expect her to grow much more as the series continues. I like how she’s very self-sufficient, and although I don’t like it, how well she can juggle her friendships.

Akiva:
Honestly, it was nice seeing the guy as the tormented character for a change, but I think he was too tormented if that makes sense.

Brimstone:
I really love this character. Even before it’s revealed that he has a soft spot for Karou, the reader can see that. Apart from that, he is such an awesome and genuine character you can’t help but fall in love with.

Issa:
I loved reading about her relationship with Karou and how she was a mother to Karou. I really enjoyed reading about her and wish every book had an Issa.

Overall:
I liked the book apart from what I mentioned above and will continue reading to find out what happens and see how all of the characters grow.
Jackie

In September, me and three other friends (Roman, Vato and Rachel) went to the Cassandra Clare and Holly Black book signing for the Iron Trial: Magisterium. We got a copy of the book and got to look at different drawings of the characters and the book trailer. It was really fun!

After that, we all promised to read the book together, but it really didn’t end up that way. Vato finished the book first, within a week, Rachel hasn’t yet started reading it, as she is reading the Heroes of Olympus, and Roman’s reading speed is like a snail and is on chapter 13 currently, and he is in the middle of reading Clockwork Prince. I was reading Jessica Sorensen’s books, so I started as soon as I had finished the Violet and Luke series, which was about three-four days ago. I finished it last night.

Storyline/Plot:

It is a middle-grade book, so I wasn’t expecting Cassie to go all long-word-and-complicated-storyline on me, but I was surprised with how long it took me to be actually interested in the book. It was a big jump for me going from 16-19 YA books to 9-12 children’s books. It was sort of painful. One of the main parts in a book for me is how the author(s) manage to fit in romance, and I was surprised that they didn’t fit any in at all (I know they are 12 and all that but still). I gave this three out of five stars on goodreads.

Characters:

Call: Call was hilarious, and being a grumpy teenager myself, I related to him slightly.

Tamara: She got on my nerves, seeing as she was go goody goody, but she got better during the end.

Aaron: I liked Aaron, but his reaction to everything was always annoying.

Writing:

The writing was good, but I still found it difficult getting into it. The big twist at the end of the book was surprising and fascinating, and I as curious how they will continue the suspense in the next books.

This is going to be about the entire series, The Selection, The Elite, and The One.

Well.

Storyline/Plot:

I have to honestly admit how surprised how different I thought this book would be. I originally thought it was going to be one of the Matched/Delirium type of books *sigh* but it was actually one of my favourite series of this year, joining first place with the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. It starts off well, but then when you fist meet Maxon you know you will regret ever having a crush on Aspen. Maxon is so cute and sweet and hilarious and I would 100% join The Selection if it meant marrying him.

Characters:

America: Despite how much I liked her character, I really wanted to slap her. How obvious can it get that you are IN LOVE WITH MAXON NOT ASPEN. Oh dear. I really wanted to scream in her face (but she is fictional).

Aspen: Is like Adam from Shatter Me. I started of loving him, and ended up hating him. He starts off really cute, and then in the end it’s like GO AWAY ASPEN.

Maxon: He is so perfect and I’m so happy when him and America got together I was dancing around.

Writing:

This book gives you a lot of feels. It really gets to you and stabs you right in the heart/soul. I wanted to cry all the way through it. When I got to the bit in The One where America confessed her undying love for Prince Maxon I legitimately thought I was going to cry or scream. Kiera really understands the way people fall in love, but she also knows how to make characters rip your heart out and yell sarcastically at it.

A Kiss in the Dark was a beautiful book. It starts off with a massive twist in the storyline and from then on you are on the edge of your seat. As of halfway through, the narrator changes from Alex to Kate. From then on I found it hard to decide who’s side to be on because both of the characters make horrific decisions. The story is very deep because it includes the characters having to find themselves in a place that they don’t know who they are. It is one of those books where you wish you could rip the characters out of the book, just to yell at them and tell them what to do and how badly they are handling the situation. This is the third Cat Clarke book that I have read and at the moment it is my favourite.